Direct vs. Indirect Assessment

• Direct assessment acquires evidence about student learning and the learning environment. Examples include exams, projects, logs, portfolios, observations....
• Indirect assessment acquires evidence about how students feel about their learning and the learning environment. Examples include surveys, questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, reflective essays..

Assessment vs. Evaluation

• Formative assessment focuses on the student and the learning environment for the purpose of improvement.
• Summative assessment (sometimes called student evaluation) focuses on the student and the learning environment for the purpose of making a judgment.
• Evaluation is also a process that focuses on a professor, teaching performance, or a program for the purpose of making a judgment about merit or funding.

In general, assessments are not judgmental; there are no "good" or "bad" assessments. In contrast, evaluations have consequences, and there are indeed desirable and undesirable evaluations.

Value-Added vs. Norm-Based vs. Criterion-Based Assessment

• Value-added: Knowledge or skill after a learning opportunity minus what existed before the learning opportunity. The difference equals the value gained through that learning opportunity
• Norm-based: Achievement level compared to that of other students or programs (cf. educational benchmarking)
• Criterion-based: Achievement compared to a standard or expectation, regardless of what other students or programs do (cf. geophysical benchmark)

Benchmark
The term comes from geology and means a fixed point of reference, usually with known geophysical location and elevation. It is neither aspired to nor copied; it simply is. In education and business, benchmarks have acquired some relational characteristics to become a collection of so-called “best” or model practices for achieving particular goals or processes. Thus, they have become aspirational and they exist in a context that includes era and locale.

The term benchmarking means going out in search of a benchmark or comparing one's performance to that of an aspirational (benchmark) individual or institution.

Education Research
Education research is the scientific field of study that examines education and learning processes and the human attributes, interactions, organizations, and institutions that shape educational outcomes.

General Education
General education is grounded in a philosophy or framework developed by an institution of higher learning or adopted from an established framework. General education imparts broad knowledge and intellectual concepts to students and develops skills and attitudes that the institution believes every college-educated person should possess.